Has anyone here tried Prolon or another Fasting Mimicking Diet? How was it with you afib? I'm about to start a Prolon 5 day fast, and have a mild concern about my afib. Often, when I start a keto diet, it'll trigger afib during the induction phase (and I'll increase my potassium to try avoiding it), so potentially something similar may happen with fasting - though I've alby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
QuoteCarey 1) Do NOT allow your current EP to do another ablation. I don't care how much you like and respect him. Just don't because he doesn't have the technique and skills down yet. You can continue your relationship with him for ongoing maintenance. 2) Do take him up on his offer of a referral to Natale. You don't need to wait a full year, just a few months. It is stillby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
I had my first ablation in August 2018 and had my first reoccurrence of afib 30 days later, at which point my EP suspected the PV reconnected. Indeed, I had about 15 episodes of AF over the next year, though slowing in frequency over time. In November of 2019 I had my second ablation, and then seven weeks later had my first instance of afib. Again, my EP suspects the right PV has reconnectedby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
On a side topic, when I was recently getting my 2nd ablation and was awake during the induction, as the EP was chemically increasing my heart rate to induce the afib, I was wondering to myself, "when a person has vagal afib, is this a valid method to identify the electrical source of the afib?" I did ask my EP about that before my first ablation, and he assured that the procedure worby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
George, What do you say to doctors who insist on taking a beta-blocker or a calcium channel blocker when on an antiarrhythmic drug? Being on Flecainide, I fought that topic with my EP for a couple years, since I have vagal afib and reducing my heart rate often triggers it at night. I did try a calcium channel blocker, but it significantly dropped my heart rate even at the lowest dose, so Iby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
I got my second ablation done on Monday, again by Dr. Fermin Garcia @ UPenn. The first one was in August 2018, and 30 days latter my a-fib had returned. One thing that was odd in both procedures was he only had me stop the Flecainide I was taking (50mg BID) one day before the procedure. I repeatedly asked him it I should follow the more common protocol, and he said at such a lose does it wasn&by MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
Yup, it's afib.by MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
P.S. Tone in email is easy to misinterpret, but no negativity was intended above, though as I read it I can 'hear' that possible misreading. Cheers.by MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
If I use the following definition I quickly found - "In atrial fibrillation, the atria beat irregularly. In atrial flutter, the atria beat regularly, but faster than usual and more often than the ventricles, so you may have four atrial beats to every one ventricular beat" - then I'd say I'm pretty sure it's afib. Only the first post-ablation incident was caught on the moby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
I had the appointment with my EP. From what I can tell, UPenn's (or at least my EP's) protocol is to do an index PVI, with another small ablation if needed to eliminate indications of atrial flutter, for first-time ablations; this is based on various statements from my EP and his PAs, though I don't know they'd officially state this. Showing me the images from the procedure,by MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Jons, Yeah, I agree it’s strange my afib has increased post-ablation and don’t understand why; it could be just the normal evolution of things, or a change in the electrical conduction of my heart, or some unknown factor I haven’t accounted for. I will say that my lifestyle has been the same, continuing with the same supplements (as recommended here in the forum) as before. Yes, I’l beby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
I had an ablation done at UPenn about 16 weeks ago; the first 30 days my heart was quiet, but since then I've been having afib weekly or more. At week 8, I started taking nightly 50mg flecainide again, but that hasn't helped like it did prior to the ablation when I'd have afib on average every 10 weeks - so my afib has gotten worse post-ablation. Tomorrow I have an appointmentby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
Wow, George… you’ve got your diet down to a science, and you have strong discipline to be able to do extended fasts like that. I’ve at best done only single day fasts, but maybe you’ll inspire me to take if further. BTW, do you recommend any good books on ketogenic diets? Yeah, it’s during the induction phase of ketosis where I’ve run into electrolyte imbalances (and thus afib). I’ve been ofby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Frank, Yeah, the PIP method seems to only be a good option for people who are symptomatic (ie. they feel their afib). For me, I can immediately sense it, maybe because of many years of meditation practices, some which focus directly on the sensation of the heart. My father, on the other hand, was already in permanent afib by the time a doctor detected it, and he never noticed it. Peoplby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
Thanks for the insight feedback, George and Carey (and I look forward to hearing further details from Carey!) George, it's interesting what you write about calcium. It's something I've pondered in the past, but haven't taken action to correct in my own diet yet. I often strive to eat a low-carb diet, which leads me to eating milk products (like cheese and yogurt) - and woby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
I've periodically experimented with monitoring HRV since the late 90s (before I developed afib) and I do notice some correlation with afib. Usually there's a lot of high frequencies in my heart rate both before and after afib. Visually, the graph of my heart rate variability is very jagged, rather than a smooth sinusoidal wave.by MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
My previous EP prescribed Flecainide 300mg PIP, which I used for 5+ years without any additional meds, but my current EP insists that patients taking Flecainide MUST take an AV nodal conduction-suppressing drug (ie.a beta-blocker or calcium channel blocker) to prevent atrial flutter with 1:1 conduction. This doesn’t bother me when only occasionally taking Flecainide (and thus taking Metoprolol aby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
Thanks for the feedback. I'll get it another month or two.by MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
I had my ablation done the last week of August and everything seemed to be going well until about 30 days later, when I had my first instance of Afib. Two weeks later, it happened again. I then had my follow-up with my EP, who said that the 30-day holter monitor showed no signs of Afib until the instance on the last day, and that wasn't a good sign since late-reoccurence often indicatedby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
This week I was at a conference for work, and as sometimes happens when traveling I caught a cold. I started taking pseudoephedrine (with l-theanine to take away the jitters), which in the past hasn't been a trigger for afib since mine is vagal. But Tuesday night I went out to dinner with other guys from work, had too much to drink, and woke up Wednesday morning in my first breakthrough ofby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
I have vagal afib and had an ablation about 10 days ago. All was going well until last night around 3am when I woke with a pre-afib feeling that I sometimes get. When this happens, I might feel one or two beats out of rhythm, though often it's just an unsteady feeling in my heart, with a slight variability in rhythm, though hear rate is normal, and with a slight feeling of being out of breby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
What's your CHA2DS2-VASc and HAS-BLED scores? If you compare the two risk estimates, if might give you an idea if it's lower risk to coagulate or not. https://www.chadsvasc.org I do share the same question as you though, if any supplements are not safe with Eliquis, since I recently started taking it post-ablation.by MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
I was wondering at first if they were hematomas, but the hard spots seem to perfectly follow the course of the veins and feel rope-like and thus my speculation it could be phlebitis. I agree the combination of aspirin and Eliquis seems odd, based on my recent research since it dramatically increases the risk of bleeding. I wonder if it was a mistake of the EP nurse, who coordinated the dischaby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
Sorry is this is a repeat post... I started a new thread last night but it never showed up. It's been six days since my ablation and my recovery was going mostly well. On days 3-6 I was going out on walks, starting short and extending it each day (20-40 minutes). The only notable discomfort has been tender, hard femoral veins at the catheter insertion sites. I also have large areas ofby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
The ablation seems to have been a success. When I asked my EP about stopping the Flecainide only the night before, he almost scoffed at it, saying he'll easily be able to induce afib in me. Also he said that my afib was "bread and butter" and that he expected only a PVI would be necessary, but he'd look for other non-PV triggers. Post-procedure, he said that he induced afby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
Flecainide gave me a hangover like you describe, even on a low dose. I started with only using it 'pill in the pocket', 300mg and the days I would take it, I'd be wiped out. Then I started regularly taking 50mg twice a day, and even that made me feel like crap. I then was just taking 50mg once a day before bed, and it was always a gamble if I'd feel 'hung-over' thby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
The first study states that that only 65% of patients were inducible at all, so obviously a skilled EP can perform the procedure without inducing afib. There's little value arguing the topic any further, and it only serves to get me more worked-up the day before my ablation. Time will tell if it's my EP's staff's mistake or his protocol. Considering my EP has been publiby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
At this point, it's hard to say if it was a mistake of my EP's staff or standard operating procedure. I guess I won't know until I ask tomorrow. Doing some research, I see my EP and the team at UPenn have published some recent studies on the topic of the "Lack of prognostic value of atrial arrhythmia inducibility..." Lack of prognostic value of atrial arrhythmia inby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
It's not much my EP I'm concerned with but his supporting staff. University of Penn is supposed to be one of the best EP labs in the country, and my EP is also supposed to be one of the best. Shannon has had many good things to say about him in these forums. In my search for info now tonight, the only reassuring information I've found so far is Shannon mentioning Dr. Nataleby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM
I have my first ablation scheduled for Monday morning at University of Penn's EP lab, and tonight I was reading some older posts in the Affiber's forum and saw that the standard time to stop Flecainide before the ablation is 5 days, whereas I was told only to stop it the night before... but there's more to the story. My EP and his staff have been very sparse on the details on thby MarkF786 - AFIBBERS FORUM